Suicide bombers kill 20 in Quetta, Pakistan

Two suicide bombers targeting a senior security official struck near government offices in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Wednesday, killing 20 people, a police official said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Pakistan's Taliban militants, who are close to al Qaeda, often carry out such attacks under a campaign designed to topple the U.S.-backed government.

Autonomy-seeking militants demanding a greater share of the profits from oil and other resources in the province of Baluchistan, of which Quetta is the capital, have also waged a low-level insurgency for decades. Continue reading.

Arshad Butt / AP

Police and rescue workers remove a dead body from the site of a suicide bombing in Quetta, Pakistan, on Sept. 7. A pair of suicide bombers attacked the house of a top military officer in the southwestern city of Quetta, killing his wife and scores of other people, including soldiers, authorities said.

Naseer Ahmed / Reuters

Rescue workers and security officials assist a wounded soldier to an ambulance at the site of a double suicide bombing in Quetta on Sept. 7.

Naseer Ahmed / Reuters

Mohammad Azam, 56, injured by a double suicide bombing in Quetta, is assisted to an ambulance by police and rescue workers on Sept. 7.